2024 General Election Stunt

There is only one week remaining until we go to the polls toelect our new Dáil. Today, UCC Students' Union is asking the next government toprioritise student housing, recognising that the current policy is not working,and that student housing is at a breaking point. 

As students, we are paying up to €450 a week foraccommodation, often left with no alternative, or living in mould, damp, andunsafe conditions. The pressure of housing has resulted in a crisis thatpermeates all areas of our experience as students - how we eat, how we work,how we study. We need better. 

UCCSU hung up 60 bedsheets around UCC campus and Cork Cityto draw attention to this crisis. 

UCCSU wrote to local Dáil candidates, asking each candidateto sign a pledge to prioritise the building of publicly-funded and affordablepurpose-built student accommodation. Next Thursday, the Union will publish astatement telling the student body who has committed to this pledge - and whohas not. 

Our pledge is as follows:

"If elected as a TD in the upcoming GeneralElection, I shall:

1. advocate for the introduction of additionallegislation to protect students in owner-occupied (digs) accommodation.

2. advocate for Cork City to be made a priorityinvestment zone for publicly-funded PBSA.

3. advocate for the expansion of powers of theResidential Tenancies Board to monitor rent rates across Rent Pressure Zone(RPZ) tenancies and more effectively enforce the RPZ legislation that iscurrently being circumnavigated by some landlords.

4. advocate for the publication of the National StudentAccommodation Strategy. 

5. commit to supporting the establishment of an all-partyparliamentary working group on student accommodation.

6. commit to meet with UCC Students' Union after theelection, and once a year thereafter, to discuss the issues facing studentsacross the city."

One week out from polling day, let's tell our candidatesthat we will be voting for better student housing. 

Ní neart go cur le chéile.

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